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Google’s Breadcrumb Trail Display URL

So I’m not sure if this made the SEO rounds (possibly I’m just too busy hiding from my Christmas shopping responsibilities), but it was news to me. Google is playing with removing the displayed URL and replacing with a breadcrumb trail type display.

It doesn’t matter if you’re logged in or not. It doesn’t just happen if you’re ranked in the top position (like sitelinks). Honestly, it seems pretty random. I haven’t figured out what triggers it, but it does seem like a useful variation of the horizontal sitelinks. Is it better than seeing the usual display URL? Maybe since keyworded URLs still aren’t completely prevalent yet on the web. Function over form?

Try it – I Googled transformers toys but it’s happening elsewhere. All the more reason to have a good site hierarchy… now it’s actually marketing for you in the search engine result pages.

Ex-big agency guy, now focused on helping small and medium sized business. I've been practicing SEO since 1998. I started the SEO practice at a major digital agency owned by eBay and helped develop SEO products for one of the largest ecommerce platforms. I'm a proud member of the Philadelphia SEO scene. I'm passionate about search, writing, UX, CRO, and psychology in marketing. Read More

Comments 2

Personally, I kind of like this breadcrumb style display. Sometimes the search result isn’t exactly what I’m looking for, but one of the breadcrumbs in the trail does look more relevant so I’ll click it directly. They have increased the number of pages a user can land on directly from the SERP and to me that is a good thing.

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